Third time around on THE AVENGERS. The main point here was to resurrect Mantis from the drek forced upon her at the end of WEST COAST AVENGERS and FANTASTIC FOUR, but I also wanted to provide the vast epic Marvel no longer knows how to do.

That was an interesting challenge because I had eight issues, no more, and the original Mantis epic had run more than twice that. In addition, that first epic had run long because new avenues kept opening up and I followed them wherever their stories led; this time, eight issues, no more, so I had to consciously cover over new openings in a way that, hopefully, no one would notice.

But the reader response showed a real pent-up hunger for a story that would stretch the current limits, even with constrictions. People want a "House of Ideas."

Mantis and Thanos first confronted each other in the unpublished issue #23 of SILVER SURFER.

I got great personal satisfaction from working with Spanish artist Jorge Santamaría because I speak better Spanish than he speaks English, and I could exercise that aspect of my life. Also, because he wasn't raised in America's Puritanical tradition, he did a splash page for #5 that I can't reproduce in a site containing children's stories. (It was replaced in the published version.)

This series was dedicated to Frank and Jan Brunner, Al Weiss, Al Milgrom, and Jim Starlin.